The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle names One Battle After Another the best film of 2025 December 20, 2025.
The Philadelphia Film Critics Circle on Saturday announced the winners of its ninth annual year-end awards, and the choice for Best Film of 2025 was Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. It was one of five awards for the film, which also won for Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Best Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro), Best Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor), and Best Breakthrough Performance (Chase Infiniti).
The runner-up was Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which won the most awards with six. Those include Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Script (Ryan Coogler), Best Soundtrack/Score (Ludwig Göransson), Best Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw), and Best Ensemble. Sinners also won the Critics Circle’s Steve Friedman Award, for a person or film that drives major public discourse on a topic or issue. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You won the Elaine May Award, for a deserving person or film that brings awareness to a story from a woman’s perspective.
The Philips Cheesesteak Award, sponsored by Philips Steaks in Philadelphia, meant to recognize a blockbuster that’s hard to ignore, went to Superman. It was the fourth year of the award, with Top Gun: Maverick winning in 2022, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning- Part I winning in 2023, followed by The Fall Guy in 2024.
Full list of winners:
Best Film: One Battle After Another (Runner-up: Sinners)
Philips Steaks Cheesesteak Award: Superman (Runner-up: Predator: Badlands)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (Runner-up, Ryan Coogler,
Sinners)
Best Actress: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (Runner-up: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You)
Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners (Runner-up, Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon)
Best Supporting Actress: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another (Runner-up, Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners)
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another (Runner-up, Delroy Lindo, Sinners)
Best Foreign Film: It Was Just an Accident, France (Runner-up: Sentimental Value, Norway)
Best Animated Film: K-pop Demon Hunters (Runner-up: Zootopia 2)
Best Documentary: Grand Theft Hamlet (Runner-up: Orwell: 2+2= 5)
Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners (Runner-up: Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another)
Best Breakthrough Performance: Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Runner-up: Miles Caton, Sinners)
Best Directorial Debut: Charlie Polinger, The Plague (Runner-up: Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby)
Best Script: Ryan Coogler, Sinners (Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another)
Best Score/Soundtrack: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners. (Runner-up: Johnny Greenwood, One Battle After Another)
Best Ensemble: Sinners (Runner-up, One Battle After Another)
Elaine May Award: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Steve Friedman Award: Sinners
This was the ninth year of awards since the Circle’s inception in 2017. Get Out was the 2017 winner for Best Film, while Roma was the choice in 2018, Knives Out won in 2019, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won in 2020, and The Power of the Dog was the winner in 2021. Everything Everywhere All At Once won in 2022, Poor Things won in 2023, and Anora won in 2024.
This year’s voting, for the fourth year, utilized the resilient STAR voting system, an instant runoff approach that streamlines the process while adding more value to each member’s ballots.